RASC-AL

Who We Are:

The Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts – Academic Linkage (RASC-AL) is a university-level, full-mission NASA design competition. Each year, we select a theme from NASA that outlines the mission we design. Previous mission themes include creating a Martian water based ISRU fuel refinery and designing a durable low-mass lunar habitat. After theme selection, the team works through the engineering design cycle and creates a concept for an architecture that addresses the theme. The primary deliverables are a proposal paper and video submitted to NASA in March, and then if they are accepted, we write a technical paper and create a presentation for the RASC-AL forum which occurs in June in Cocoa Beach, Florida. For a more detailed (and humorous) explanation see our page on the ISS Wiki. In the 2022 forum, the ISS RASC-AL Team won 2nd place overall! They will be attending the 2022 ASCEND Conference in Las Vegas in October to showcase their concept.

To join or for more information please contact RASC-AL Lead Galen Sieck (galents2@illinois.edu).

What We Learn:

RASC-AL focuses on teaching the engineering design process. One important aspect that we highlight is our drafting the requirements for our concept. Requirements can be thought of as a technical outline for the end design, they define what the end product will be able to accomplish. We also learn soft skills like technical writing, presenting, and research. A new focus for RASC-AL has been prototyping our design, where we make small scale models of it to gain a practical understanding for the concept.

Why YOU Should Join:

Early Leadership Opportunities. Leading a RASC-AL subteam requires very little prior knowledge, what makes a good leader in RASC-AL is passion and work ethic. This puts us in the unique position to offer leadership positions to first-year members. In fact, of the 5 sub-team leads last year, 4 of them were freshman and all were first year RASC-AL members. Beyond just leadership, anyone who joins RASC-AL, regardless of experience, will be able to have ownership over some portion of the architecture, they will be the expert when it comes to something, and will be able to talk interviewers and recruiters ears off about it.
Directly Applicable Skills. While participating in any ISS tech project will help you down the line, the skills you will learn in RASC-AL fold into the aerospace curriculum especially well. For example, AE 498 Intro to Human Spaceflight has been described as several mini-RASC-Al projects, and the Space Senior Design project focuses heavily on requirements, one of the key skills learned in RASC-AL. In addition, the soft skills taught in RASC-AL apply to a variety of courses across the engineering curriculum and beyond.
Networking. RASC-AL presents a great networking opportunity. Those who attend the RASC-AL Forum get access to an exclusive recruiting session with companies such as Northrop Grumman and KBR as well as NASA branches like the Space Mission Analysis Branch. The forum also affords opportunities to meet and network with various industry professionals, such as the judges who work at companies like Boeing and SpaceWorks, as well as the other competitors. Beyond the forum, the RASC-AL admins create a LinkedIn group which any member of the team can join, which allows access to everyone attending the forum.

Previous Work:

Some work from previous RASC-AL Teams is shown below:

RASC-AL 2021-2022

RASC-AL 2020-2021
- Technical Paper
- Presentation

RASC-AL 2019-2020
- Technical Paper
- Presentation

Prototyping. The prototyping subteam main task is creating the prototype for this year’s architecture. The prototype gives the team a practical understanding of the theme, and, while not specifically required, can earn the team up to 10 bonus points at the forum.

ECLSS. ECLSS stands for environmental control and life support system. The ECLSS subteam will focus on the atmospheric controls, fire detection/suppression, waste management, and more.
Human Systems. Human Systems involves keeping humans alive on Mars. This subteam will deal with food generation, architecture layout, physical fitness, and the psychological aspect of living on Mars.
Habitat Structures. Habitat Structures will focus on what the habitat is made of. They're responsible for structural integrity, materials. This also means they are principally responsible for mitigating environmental factors like dust and radiation.
Logistics and Transportation. The logistics and transports team’s chief task will be designing the train to get to Mars. This means launch/lander selection and performing the orbital dynamics calculation to get to there. They will also be in charge of the logistics involving resupply missions.
Integration and General Technology. Integration and General technology focus on the general systems used by the architecture. They are responsible for the power, communications, and automation systems. They will also perform the cost analysis and have a hand in the ISRU systems utilized by the architecture. Lastly, they will be responsible for the mission CONOPS and ensuring the different pieces of the architecture work together.